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Receiving industry awards can not only bring a brand tremendous
credibility, but also build general visibility and name
recognition. Winning awards will also help to increase employee
morale, land venture capital funding and even associate a
somewhat unknown brand with the “big fish” in the industry.

Although a useful form of marketing and brand awareness, it can
be daunting to find the right awards with so many options in
every industry. To narrow down the options and figure out where
time is best spent, follow these simple but comprehensive steps:

Research the well-known and lesser-known
awards. Begin by conducting research and listing at
least 30 awards that are relevant for your company. These can be
found through simple searches on the Internet, or through
a list of awards compiled by a third-party
service.

Including the big, well-known awards is just as important as
including lesser-known awards that may be issued by publications,
industry associates, other companies, organizations or even the
government. Keep an open mind and list anything that could be
relevant to your company space.

Organize the list into three
categories. Organize and appropriately order the
list by the due date of submission and price. Next, split all of
the awards into three categories:

This category should be specific to your company’s niche. For
instance, a health-technology company would apply for an award in
health technology.

This category should be more broad, such as technology or
innovation awards.

The final category should be different than the first two.
Depending on your company, it could be a general business award,
such as the
Entrepreneur of 2014.

Successful submissions require stand-out
nominations. The nomination should include a
convincing explanation of why your company is worthy of the
award. Add multiple examples of successes with measurable results
and avoid jargon as much as possible. The selection committee’s
members could have varying ranges of expertise, so it’s not wise
to leave anyone out by including content in the nomination that
not everyone may understand.

Don’t worry about spending a ton of time crafting very
well-written paragraphs, either. Bullet points that help
highlight the successes of your company will allow the submission
to stand out and make it easier for those reading to digest.

Some awards will also require confidential company information,
such as revenue, details on funding, employee number, etc. Have
that information ready when submitting these nominations.

Budget for nomination fees. To submit a
nomination, there is typically a fee of between $100 to $400. If
the award has an event tied to it, there could be a mandatory
booth purchase required. With this in mind, set aside a budget
and prioritize which awards are most important to building
credibility and recognition for your company. Don’t forget to
gather this information in the initial research stage so that
your team can plan accordingly.

Many times the first submission for an award doesn’t lead to the
winner’s circle right away, so don’t give up. There’s nothing
wrong with submitting again the following year, and even the year
after that. As your company grows, so too will its successes.
Showing the growth of your company over time can be impressive to
the selection committee.

Just make sure to take the time to appropriately prepare and
submit for the top industry awards each year. Accruing more
awards will help take your brand to the next level with increased
credibility and name recognition.